Mac’s mail improvements earn a stamp of approval
Although you can purchase or download any number of e-mail software clients and have a wide choice of Web-based mail interfaces, there is always an option built in to the operating system that helps you master basic messaging functions.
The Windows version was known for years as Outlook Express until it was renamed Windows Mail when Vista emerged earlier this year. The program worked well enough for home users, distinguishing itself by offering a pretty cool way to organize news groups in its old days.
But anyone who relied on e-mail would get his hands on Outlook, the full-featured personal organizer that used e-mail as the focal point of organizing your whole life. Users didn’t always benefit, since they were caught between the too-much aspect of Outlook and the feeling that Outlook Express was not enough.
The resident Macintosh mail program, descriptively enough called Mail, has provided an acceptable, if unexciting, option. But the latest version, available only as a part of the new Leopard operating system, has incorporated some common-sense features. And as with many Apple products, the only surprise is how much sense these improvements make and why it took so long to include them.
Mail has all the expected features, including two modules that expand the program’s capability but not its complexity. Both the ability to take notes or add to-do items are part of Microsoft Outlook, but the Apple version is easier to understand and execute.
You click on the command to add a note or a to-do item from a pair of icons on the permanent toolbar, and the items are listed as part of the Reminders category to the left of the message window.
The to-do module is pretty rudimentary, with no ability to add details about the task aside from the title, due date and category. But the notes module is very slick, as it stacks the notes in an easy-to-read searchable list. This is a lot easier to follow than Apple’s own Stickies utility, which is also part of the operating system.
After clicking the note icon, you type in a one or two-word description and hit Enter, in order to give the note a title. You can then type a note of any length.
This is reminiscent of some of the early PC personal-information managers, offering a way to track phone calls and tasks when using a word processor represented overkill. Imagine how organized you would be if you started a new note for each phone conversation and typed in a summary as it occurred. (The messages are also displayed in the Inbox.)
Mail also offers the ability to send messages as stationery, an option available for years in a Windows program called Incredimail.
Again, Apple makes it easy. Incredimail requires you to download a proprietary e-mail client, which doesn’t always work smoothly. Apple Mail gives a few options where you can brighten up certain messages.
This is all in fun and won’t really change how people interact - aside from one stationery option that looks like a giant Post-it note. This underscores any succinct message, such as “don’t forget to take out the garbage” or “feed the baby.”
With the increasing popularity of Web mail, any successful mail client needs to be able to connect with your Web-mail service. Mail does this well enough, although you will need to set up a rule to move sent messages into their own folder.
A lot of cool features will motivate an upgrade to Leopard. Mail isn’t one of them. But if you have signed on to Leopard for other reasons, you will certainly appreciate Mail’s advantages.
If you have questions or suggestions for Charles Bermant, you can contact him by e-mail at cbermant@seattletimes.com. Type Inbox in the subject field. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.